Usually, censorship in a newspaper is more on the side of whoever holds the reins of power or money. But not in the Journal de Saint-Denis, where the editorial of the director against Islamist crimes and the “Munich spirit” of those who minimize them annoyed part of the editorial staff who yelled at “Islamophobia”. A deleterious climate which pushed the director to resign.
Readers of Journal of Saint-Denis, a local news newspaper more than a newsletter to the glory of the city councilor, were surprised to read an editorial by the editorial director, Yann Lalande, on Wednesday 11 November, titled “The editorial you escaped”. A reference to Charlie Hebdo which owes nothing to chance. Because, it is a form of censorship that will be discussed here.
The heading “Au coin de la Une” appears on the first page of the Journal of Saint-Denis (JSD). It corresponds to the unsigned editorial, supposed to reflect the position of the entire editorial staff. “For three and a half years that I have been at JSD, I write the editorial but, before publication, it is subject to the opinion of all the editors. There are always formal comments, often on the margins that I correct. But there, it did not happen like that… ”.
There, it is the return on the assassination of Samuel Paty. This Friday, October 16, which is the start of the school holidays, Yann Lalande is absent for a week. On his return, he noticed that the “subject” had received little attention in the newspaper, like of the ceremony organized by the municipality, where the half-masting of the flags was more of the union minimum than a real tribute.
At the editorial conference where the subjects are decided, the editorial director wishes to return to the assassination of professor de Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. ” What are we doing in the JSD to talk about it ? “, he asks in substance to his colleagues. All agree that their director should write an editorial that will be unsigned as is customary. What was done. But the editorial in question was never published.
“Islamism is not separatism but a fascist project”
However, the editorial, entitled “Of the Munich spirit” has the merit of saying things clearly, of summoning the story which, “If it never really repeats itself, is a prerequisite for full citizenship”. History is notably for Yann Lalande, September 1938 and the Munich conference “Where Western democracies believed they could negotiate a peace with the Hitlerite and Mussolini totalitarian regimes. Big mistake. What history teaches us is that we do not compromise with fascism. “ And to clarify his thinking in the light of the 21st century: “Islamism is not separatism but a fascist project. The supporters of radical political Islam do not aim to live their lives apart, quietly. They intend to substitute their rules for those of the Republic. The only legitimate ones, however. “
The article, which the author did not wish to be published in full in other press media, was to appear in the October 28 edition. In other words, a few days before the start of the school year on November 2. But, in the meantime, his few lines which affirmed a clear, neat, precise and secular position, to be held in the face of a radical political Islam, are making waves within the editorial staff. “At the start, the first feedback was positive. I had a few remarks to rightly replace “Nazis” with “totalitarians”, which I did without problem. But, of the nine people who make up the editorial staff, four returns were missing. So I went fishing to find out what these journalists thought about it. “ If one of the silent ones thinks, half serious, half laughing, that there is “A risk to take an attack on the editorial staff”, others are frankly hostile towards their director. The offending text would be “Islamophobic”. “A journalist climbed into the towers. Nothing was right in my text. My historical comparisons did not hold, the murder of Samuel Paty was only a “news item of attack”. And, while we need appeasement, my text would have been hot-tempered, summoning the Republic to call for revenge ”, according to the unqualified email from his colleague.
Of course Yann Lalande could have signed his editorial and ignored the denials or prudishness of these colleagues. “But, on a subject like this, I wanted there to be one voice in the newspaper. That we collectively reaffirm common values. “
In the days that followed, it was hot JSD. And crisis meeting, since Yann Lalande explains that the lack of adherence of part of his team to an editorial that rises against fascism and advocates republican values calls into question his very presence at the head of the management .
“It created a wave of panic but the opponents of my words continued to force against me and a whole part of the editorial staff remained soft under their breath, without wanting to take a position. As I wasn’t going to fire people who don’t think like me, I decided to leave ”, relates the director who puts his fall into the economic unknown: “I am on availability from the administration and I will not point to Pôle Emploi. I love the JSD but not at the cost of compromise. “
Lately, however, the attentive reader could glimpse some subtle changes in the diary. November 4, JSD takes on pastel colors with a number fully illustrated by press cartoonists. Yann Lalande signs a paper entitled “The return to school after”. It is about the murder of Samuel Paty, education, freedom of expression, pedagogy and caricatures, giving a voice to history and geography teachers in the city. But the reader will really discover what is going on behind the scenes of the JSD in the issue dated November 11-17.
Retention of information on sensitive subjects
In “The editorial you escaped”, the editor explains and, this time, signs: “The paradox of the time is that JSD, on certain subjects, the censorship does not come from the outside but from the inside. It is the work of this left which spends its time saying what not to do, or what not to say, rather than to act. This left (…) who flies from identity chapel to victim chapel without being able to assume any other collective discourse than the ” We’re all different “. Finally, this left which essentializes each and everyone. “
–
Some within his team must feel targeted. And him, is he disappointed by part of his team? Yes, but no more surprised than that. “The profound difference in the perception of French society which manifested itself on this occasion had already emerged on several occasions within the editorial staff of the JSD », writes Yann Lalande in his last editorial. On the phone, he says more about these “Profound differences”. Topics such as the altercation between a fully veiled woman and the municipal police or the march against Islamophobia of October 2019, launched in particular by the Dionysian elected Madjid Messaoudène, provoke heated discussions and strong opinions, as in many editors. But what Yann Lalande denounces is more serious. Beyond the differences, he points to the ” withholding of information “ from some journalists on subjects considered sensitive. “At the start of the trial of the January 2015 attacks, a merchant in the city displayed the Unes de Charlie Hebdo in support of your journal. He was threatened twice by an individual who tore off his posters. One of the journalists from JSD was aware of this matter. It was a good subject for an article mixing local information with national repercussions. However, my colleague did not say a word about it. Eventually the case came to my ears and when I told him about it I understood that he did not want to do this type of case for “Do not make waves” on these subjects. »
On the JSD website, “The editorial you escaped” makes readers react. Support for the editorialist is numerous and some even denounce the stranglehold of journalists “Indigenous” within the JSD. Yann Lalande, for his part, is worried about the intellectual confusion among the youngest journalists of the JSD and American influences modeled on French society. The departure of this ardent defender of republican values, but also of the fight against racism and against Islamism, is not good news for Dionysian readers. ●
–
